Iran resumes satellite jamming of VOA, BBC, Radio Farda (updated).

Posted: 05 Oct 2012   Print   Send a link

RFE/RL, 4 Oct 2012, citing agencies: "U.S. international broadcasting into Iran is being jammed again. A U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) statement says the jamming may be connected with demonstrations and mass arrests on October 3 as Iranians protested the plummeting value of Iran's rial currency. The BBG says recent interference began on October 3, affecting signals from RFE/RL's Radio Farda and Voice of America's Persian service. It says the interference also affected other U.S. international programs carried by Eutelsat satellites, including Georgian, Armenian and Balkan-language broadcasts."

Broadcasting Board of Governors press release, 3 Oct 2012: "'The jamming of news delivered by satellite into Iran is an outrage, a deplorable violation of well-established international agreements,' said International Broadcasting Bureau Director Richard M. Lobo. 'Freedom of information is a universal human right as well as an essential component for the health of any nation.' The practice of deliberate interference with broadcast signals, known as 'jamming,' is prohibited under rules of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). ... The jamming affected three satellite transponders operated by Eutelsat and those most popular among Iranian viewers: HotBird 13B, Eutelsat 25A and Eutelsat 7A. Viewers said the signals reappear intermittently, and that less-popular satellites are not impacted. ... VOA and RFE/RL programs continue to be broadcast on diverse media platforms, including digital audio and video streams on other satellite paths and on the Internet. -- And -- although we wouldn't want to give credit to an old and unfashionable medium -- via shortwave radio.

BBC News, 3 Oct 2012: "Viewers of BBC Persian television in Iran reported that authorities began jamming the channel's signals on two satellites after the London-based Persian-language channel reported the Tehran protests."

Update: Broadcasting Board of Governors press release, 4 Oct 2012: "Iranian jamming of U.S. government-sponsored news and information programs disrupted broadcasts from Morocco to Eastern Europe to Indonesia, the Broadcasting Board of Governors has found. Satellite operator Eutelsat confirmed that the intermittent jamming was coming from inside Iran. ... One of the BBG’s Internet anti-censorship vendors is reporting that traffic from Iran using its software and servers has increased substantially since the jamming began. This suggests that Iranian listeners and viewers are shifting to the Internet to receive news and information."

Eutelsat press release, 4 Oct 2012: "Eutelsat Communications today made a new appeal to international regulatory authorities to urgently intervene in order to put an end to repeated jamming of satellite signals from Iran. This new appeal follows significant deliberate interference from Iran since October 3 of international networks, including BBC Persian, the Voice of America’s Persian service and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Radio Farda, that broadcast via Eutelsat satellites. The practice of deliberate interference with broadcast signals is a violation of rules of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Today’s complaint by Eutelsat officially asks the ANFR, France’s national frequency agency, to renew its objection to jamming to the ITU so that it can be addressed as a priority. This new condemnation and call for action to regulatory authorities follows appeals made by Eutelsat since May 2009 to put an end to unacceptable deliberate jamming of broadcast signals from Iran."